Willmott Dixon has been appointed by Shropshire Council under the Scape framework for a £3.4m contract to revive one of Shrewsbury’s most prominent town centre buildings by converting it into a modern facility providing homes for 85 students attending the new university.

Conversion of the six storey Mardol House, which used to house a county magistrates court and Inland Revenue offices but has been empty for over a decade, also marks Willmott Dixon’s return to a town where it delivered the award-winning Theatre Severn five years ago, now Shrewsbury’s cultural hub.

The work by Willmott Dixon’s housing arm gives a new lease of life to the 50 year old Mardol House, and will see studio apartments with kitchenettes and en-suite facilities added, along with an apartment for a university tutor. The quick-track project is due for completion in September 2015, coinciding with the opening of the new University Centre Shrewsbury.

Willmott Dixon’s managing director for residential construction in the Midlands, Simon Leadbeater, says,

“This project enables us to bring back to life a building that will play a key role in the on-going economic prosperity of the town. It also plays to our skills of working in tight, constrained urban sites to deliver high-quality conversions of buildings for new uses.”

The renovation also includes the installation of a new lift and a ground-floor marketing suite, all accessed by a new entranceway into Mardol House.

“Mardol house is a fine example of sustainable design and regeneration and our first project within Shrewsbury town centre,” said Lyndon Glancy, of Birmingham-based Glancy Nicholls Architects.